Think Redwood

Are you one of the millions of people who have either read Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up or watched her Netflix show, “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo”? Both have inspired many people across the country (and the world) to look at their homes with a different set of eyes, to get rid of things that no longer “spark joy” and to organize what they keep more neatly. From a real estate perspective, it’s fantastic this show is getting so much notice, as helping people ‘tidy’ up and declutter before putting their home on the market is one of the many tasks of most real estate agents! We asked our resident tidy-ers their tips for helping sellers prepare their homes for sale, as well as how to keep them clean for showings and open houses. Here is part one of their responses. Be sure to come back next week for part two!

“I’ve learned most recently, after getting my own home ready for sale after living and raising our kids for the last 18 years, that this is more overwhelming than I thought. Being sympathetic to how stressful this is has helped me to help my clients in a different way the last six months.

First, take it room by room, so it’s less stressful. Deciding what needs to be saved, donated or trashed is always important, but how to do that is even more important. Can they do this themselves or do they need help from a service (if they are older)? Is the house really in need of a lot of work? Maybe they’ll need a dumpster instead. So, it’s up to me to provide the relevant resources to help.

Here at CENTURY 21 Redwood Realty, 2018 and 2019 are all about business planning. We've launched an exclusive online business planning tool for our agents, and even held a company-wide business planning session hosted by Tom Ferry-- an event that was so out-of-this-world successful, that we're doing it again next year. One of the fundamentals of a robust real estate business plan is prospecting. Our owners, Shawn Milletary, Nick Pasquini, and Eddie Berenbaum, wanted to drive this home, so they decided to incentivize our agents through a business planning competition with some BIG prizes.

The contest ran for 60 days leading up to our company-wide business planning event, and focused on five areas of an agent's business:

At CENTURY 21 Redwood Realty, we inherently believe that every one of our agents is a rock star. So, when others recognize their greatness, the only surprise we have is that it took everyone else so long! Some of the well-deserved honors recently awarded to Redwood agents include:

Our relocation agents, led by Tina Bodolosky, being awarded the USAA RERN Mission Possible AGR Winner’s trophy for the number of AGR referrals and for delivering exceptional experiences every day.

Do you have a checklist for actions you need to take with your buyer or seller clients before you get to the settlement table? Check to see if these are on your list! We asked our CENTURY 21 Redwood Realty agents for mistakes they see real estate agents make before getting to the settlement table, and here’s what they answered. (Consider it a real estate agent’s wish list for other agents.) It’s an excellent opportunity to learn what not to do – and maybe even have a few additions to your “preparing my client for settlement” checklist!

Title Companies and Title Insurance Advice

“The worst for me is having a buyer shocked to see title insurance cost. We can't sell title insurance and have to be careful what we say because we are not licensed to do so, but it is important to introduce the topic and refer them to a good source. I do it with my buyers when I review their estimated closing cost list when writing an offer (or earlier).” – MaryEllen Rubenstein, C21 Redwood Reston

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About Us

An exclusive collection of the industry’s best and brightest agents, CENTURY 21 Redwood Realty operates with an intense client focus, providing the highest level of service from contract to close. This approach has made us one of the region’s largest and fastest-growing firms.

Through relentless innovation, we have created an interactive marketing and technology platform that is both beautiful and powerful. By pairing this technology with our incredible agents, we take immense pride in negotiating sales for our clients with the best possible price and terms.